Matt Maltese: The Matt in the mirror

With work on a debut album approaching, we caught up to find out just where he's at.

Published: 6:41 pm, July 16, 2017

This weekend, we’re down in lovely Henham park for Latitude 2017. Featuring loads of amazing bands, and a smaller number of equally brilliant sheep, we’ve been bringing you photos, news, reports, interviews and more across the weekend.

Sunday has more than its fair share of brilliant new acts - none more so than Matt Maltese. With work on a debut album approaching, we caught up to find out just where he's at.

How’s festival season been going for you?
Yeah good, I haven’t done loads. I did Glastonbury which was so sweet. Have I done anything else? Just Glastonbury so far, on the Sunday which was amazing. I’ve got Port Eliot and Boardmasters, and some more. It’s a season where things are happening all over the place, I’m not quite sure what’s going on. It feels like a bit of a cop out coming to a festival for free and then playing, and having a night to do what you want.

So you don’t get the full Latitude experience?
I guess not. I wasn’t around to come all weekend, but yeah I’ll just have to try and give all my friends some hard drugs so they can actually stay awake with me.

Is this your first time here?
I’ve been here once, I went last year because Hugo from The Maccabees, they were headlining, he got me a day ticket. It was really cool. I woke up in the morning and I had the worst hay fever I’ve ever had. I remember taking a train back and I was buying a chocolate bar at the station, and the woman thought I was on something. I was asking her what type of chocolate something was, and she shouted it in my face because she thought I was stoned. All because my hay fever makes me look so pathetic.

Are you more prepared this year? You’ve got your antihistamines?
I have yeah, I’ve got eyedrops. I’ve stepped up my game.

How was Glastonbury, did you stay the whole weekend?
It was just the Sunday again actually, I had Maccabees shows the whole of the days before, so I could only go to Sunday, I got a lot out of even that Sunday, I watched the sunrise from the high hill. It’s kind of like a town isn’t it, I didn’t realise how big it was. It was something else. I’ll always remember that.

Who are you looking forward to catching today?
Obviously John Cale. Childhood are playing. Goat Girl I think are on at 4.50 somewhere. I think those three. I’d liked to have seen a bit of Wesley Gonzales, I think it’s like now. I’m not a massive Fleet Foxes fan, but I’ll probably join in. Should be cool.

[caption id="attachment_20641" align="alignright" width="1500

Photo: Poppy Marriott / Dork[/caption]

"pull" text="I definitely got the sound I wanted with Hugo.

What’s next in the pipeline for you?
I’m currently deciding the track list for an album, maybe one or two more songs to write, definitely close to going in and recording it. I’d like to take just take a month or two months and just do it. It feels like I’m very close to getting to a stage where I’m able to record it, and I’d hope it’ll be released next year or something. Though I might sit on lock down for four years and never get it released. But yeah, I hope next year.

Are you working with Hugo on the whole thing?
I’m not too sure, I’d hope it’ll be Hugo, or I was actually just in America meeting a few other people like Noah Georgeson and Jonathan Rado from Foxygen, just potentially working with them on it as well. I don’t really know yet, it’s all a bit up in the air. It’s all exciting.

It was pretty natural teaming up with Hugo, wasn’t it?
Yeah for sure, for sure. It was tricky because when I started with Alex as well, we were kind of slightly different with Studio 6 and stuff. Then with Hugo, he got such a good sound, I definitely got the sound I wanted with Hugo. That Britpop-esque flair, he’s very good at that, which is what I wanted. I’m a massive fan of Pulp, and with ‘As The World Caves In’, I wanted it to sound a bit OTT. He’s an amazing producer, and whether or not he’s the one for this album, I want to working with him in future. I’m very blessed, I have very good people. Whoever I do it with, I think I’ll be happy with it.

Have you got anything immediately in the pipeline? Any touring?
I’ve got a little live EP I did, which is going to be a kind of an EP based around touring, so there’s a live EP with like 5 live songs, and then it’s got a booklet of poems I wrote on the road. A satirical, self-pitying, ‘the road is really shit’ kind of thing. The whole thing’s called ‘Blood, Sweat and Beers’. It’s going to be out in a couple of weeks. I did some of that at Hugo’s studio, some of the live stuff, and then made a little booklet with this amazing artist Alice Bloomfield, who’s illustrated it and stuff. I’m really happy with it. It’s a nice bit of material that I can not put up online as well, it’s just going to be a vinyl thing. I’m excited about that, really excited.